Chapter Eight: Rest and Departure

Night.

Gu Xi barricaded the doorway, piling up everything that could offer resistance against intrusion. Then she double-locked the door.

Meanwhile, Su Chen obediently returned to the "unoccupied" room next door. No one was going to take advantage of any loopholes.

The barricade served two purposes: to prevent unknown creatures from breaking in again and to give Gu Xi some peace of mind.

Su Chen cooperated fully by going to the adjacent room.

Sleep was uneasy. Beneath the starlight in the dead of night, Gu Xi tossed and turned, repeatedly waking up. A nagging feeling told her some unknown creature was about to storm through the door. This sense of insecurity made her anxious like never before.

However, since the system had granted her abilities, she felt she must make good use of them. Besides, she needed to kill to earn more points. Staying home meant waiting to be killed—that was simply unacceptable.

She wondered what rewards the system would grant next. Curiosity lingered until dawn neared, when finally a heavy sleep overcame her.

Early the next morning, without even washing her face, she immediately connected to the immersive gear and checked the system repeatedly, hoping for some merciful bonus.

As expected, there was none.

Well, she still needed to go out hunting.

She did a quick inspection of her home. At this moment, the suitcase was useless—the sound of a wheelchair dragging on the floor would only attract more uncontrollable dangers. So the wheelchair was out of the question.

That left only the backpack—but it couldn’t carry much.

Though women may not carry many daily necessities when outside, survival basics were essential. Just sanitary pads alone would take up most of the backpack’s space. Tampons were more convenient but harder to use and not suitable for her constitution.

Besides these temporary daily items, she needed food and supplies. If fruits were scarce on the road, multivitamins would be useful. Luckily, the vitamin bottles were small, and she still had a few boxes at home, enough to last a while.

As she held them, Gu Xi thought further. If danger came and she got minor injuries, anti-inflammatory and fever-reducing medicine would be necessary. Such items were hard currency in chaotic times and indispensable.

Suddenly, an idea struck her.

If the environment outside turned harsh, she’d also need lighting and heating equipment. For lighting, she had a powerful flashlight. For heating, a thermos flask, which required hot water. When not used for warming hands, it doubled as a vessel for drinking boiled water—two purposes in one. She considered herself a genius.

Plus, proper underclothing was vital when traveling. This time, she didn’t bring disposable ones, which took up too much space, but quick-drying fabric. Disposable ones were bulky.

Darn it.

The system had only rewarded her a small amount of instant noodles. She wondered if more would come later.

So she rummaged through the closet and found some compressed biscuits she’d bought from a friend before—coconut-flavored, salted egg yolk, and red date. She personally preferred the coconut flavor.

Besides the compressed biscuits, she packed some canned ready-to-eat food, mostly meat cans. Vitamin supplementation was crucial on the road.

She also found some small bags of dried fish in the closet—these dried fish were spicy and fragrant, perfect as snacks while traveling.

...

Her home was almost thoroughly scavenged.

As expected, the backpack filled up quickly.

She didn’t have a large backpack. Even with the ability of a strong physique, she couldn’t sustain such capacity for long.

Then it hit her.

The man next door.

Though slender, he was still a man. If he was determined to leave with her, maybe he could share some of the load.

With this thought, Gu Xi moved the obstacles blocking the door, quietly opened it, confirmed no unknown creatures lurked outside, then closed her own door and knocked on the man’s door.

He was awakened by the knock, having also slept poorly the night before.

But he hadn’t expected to sleep so long.

“Why are you here?” he asked, his disheveled appearance making Gu Xi feel a bit embarrassed.

“We’re leaving today. I’ve packed some luggage. I’m almost done, but I don’t know how long we’ll be gone, so I didn’t prepare much. If you come with me, you’ll need to help carry some of it,” Gu Xi said frankly.

She preferred honesty. One lie would require countless to cover it. It was better to clarify things before departure than to quarrel later over carrying luggage.

After all, not all men were gentlemen. Sometimes it was better to rely on oneself.

Gu Xi knew this well, so she wanted to set the rules clearly.

“Oh? Who said I’m going with you?” Su Chen replied.

???

Then why did you stay here overnight?

Gu Xi thought this man had a stubborn mouth.

“Well, no choice then. If you’re not coming, I can manage on my own,” she said, putting on a fearless expression and turning to leave.

Su Chen was stunned. “Wait, you’re just leaving like that?” He had never met a woman who could just walk away so abruptly.

“I’m not staying here waiting to be killed by unknown creatures,” Gu Xi rolled her eyes almost to the ceiling.

Handsome but not very bright—that was her conclusion about this man.

“I was just joking,” Su Chen said, fearing a bad ending and trying to save face.

He was different from other men. Proud, yes, but he had a bit of admiration for strength.

This woman named Gu Xi was really different from others. He was somewhat captivated but couldn’t quite say why.

“Backpack, huh? Fine, I’ll carry it for you,” he said, eagerly following Gu Xi back to her place.

They rested a while longer, then gathered a few essentials for a short trip and prepared to set out.

“I have a Lingdu map here. I haven’t looked at it yet. It shows how to get off the floating island,” Su Chen said.

The map was a gift from his brother, who had told him it could only be opened in matters of life and death.

He hadn’t understood why before and had tried to open it many times, always failing.

Now, facing a life-or-death situation, he decided to try once more!